The 69C Regent Square route came into
PAT's route structure through the aquisition of the Pittsburgh Railways Company in 1964.
The route can be traced back to 05/18/42 when PRCo created the 212 Regent Square shuttle
bus. The route was renumbered on 11/13/60 as the 92 Regent Square. The route was designed
to serve residents of Regent Square as a feeder route to the main routes in Wilkinsburg.
As originally created by PRCo, the 69C was a stand alone route but was
intertwined with what became the 79A Blackridge and 79B Churchill Valley routes prior to
PAT's takeover and PAT maintained the combined route structure right up to the end of
service with the true 69C only service slowly being reduced over the years in favor of the
thru-routing of trips.
Garages assigned to the 69C:
- Homewood Garage - 03/01/64 - 07/08/72
- East Liberty Division - 07/09/72 - 09/01/79
Destination Signs:
Route ran with window cards and destination signs.
Above are representative of what you would have seen for the route on
old looks and new look full size signs. Split sign buses did not appear to receive the 69C
reading.
There was a reading for the 1971 order of buses that included a reading
indicating service to East Hills. We don't believe that the sign was used based on the
structure of the route that would have required a sign change in Wilkinsburg.
Routing:
69C only routing from Regent Square- Trevanion at Richmond via
Richmond, Sanders, Macon, Overton, Milton, Huchinson, Savannah, Whitney, Barnes, Hampton,
Pennwood, Wood to South.
69C only routing from Wilkinsburg - Wood at South via South, Pennwood,
Whitney, Savannah, Hutchinson, Milton, Overton, Macon, Trevanion to Richmond.
Certain combined trips under the 79A ran via Hutchinson and bypassed
the Macon - Overton - Milton portion of the route when headed to Wilkinsburg. Trips to
Regent Square were not effected by this minor deviation.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately 10 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 03/01/64 (PAT's acquisition of PRCo).
Ended: 09/01/79 due to being combined with the 79A and 79B.
The 69C ran 7 days a week including holidays. Sunday and holiday
service was in combination with the 79A Blackridge. Originally most weekday service was in
combination with the 79A and 79B with just a few true 69C trips.
A few true 69C only trips were still in service in 1967 but were
eliminated between 1967 and 1970. By December of 1970, all 69C trips were thru-routed with
the 79A and 79B.
The schedule structure and thru-routing proceedures indicate that a
sign change was done in Wilkinsburg for the 69C portion of the route as well as switching
back to the 79A/B portion of the route. We are investigating this further.
The reasoning for hanging onto the 69C designation for so long after
the complete integration of the route into the 79A and 79B is currently unknown. It is
speculated that politics may have been the reason for the 69C designation remaining so
long after the combined routes were in effect.
PRCo and early PAT schedules were extremely difficult to comprehend
as to what route was what due to the interweaving of the 69C. 79A and 79B. By 1970,
changes were made to make the schedule easier to read and understand.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 69C had 3 distinct schedule styles issued.
The schedules from the Homewood Garage were issued under folder number
PH-20 and the 69C shared the folder with the 79A Blackridge, 79B Churchill Valley and 79C
Maplewood. Early schedules were plain white fold out schedules and later schedules were of
the 60's era design in a multi-panel fold out schedule format.
- PH-20A - 01/17/65
- PH-20B - ?
- PH-20C - ?
- PH-20D - ?
- PH-20E - 01/29/67
- PH-20F - ?
- PH-20G - ?
- PH-20H - ?
- PH-20J - ?
- PH-20K - ?
- PH-20L - 12/13/70
- PH-20M - ?
- PH-20N - ?
- PH-20P - 02/06/72
Schedules from East Liberty Division were assigned folder E-9 and the
69C shared the folder with the 79A Blackridge, 79B Churchill Valley and 79C Maplewood.
Schedules were a fold out schedule in the 60's era design and were later changed to the
MOD era design in 1974.
- E-9A - 07/10/72
- E-9B - ?
- E-9C - 10/15/72
- E-9D - ?
- E-9E - 09/02/73
- E-9F - ?
- E-9G - 09/01/74
- E-9H - 11/24/74
- E-9J - ?
- E-9K - 07/04/76
- E-9L - 12/26/76
- E-9M - 03/13/77 - Reprinted without change *
- E-9N - 09/04/77
- E-9P - 11/20/77
- E-9Q - ?
- E-9R - ?
- E-9S - 09/03/78 - Reprinted without change *
There may have been schedules issued prior to PH-20A and they were
typically reprinted former operator schedules.
Route Disposition:
The 69C designation was eliminated and combined into the 79A Blackridge
and the 79B Churchill Valley effective 09/02/79 with no changes to existing service as the
69C had already been fully intergrated into the 79A and 79B routes for many years by the
thru-routing of the line. This change is speculated to be based on the need to eliminate
confusion by the public as well as streamlining the routing structure.
Click on images for larger view
Route map of the 69C. |
